PANC 2016: Technology – Practical Solutions and Usage

According to audience members polled during a tech-focused
session at the 2016 PLANADVISER National Conference in Orlando, Florida, the
clear standout in terms of plan sponsors’ technology demands is “plan sponsor and participant websites.”

Moderator James Sampson, managing principal with Cornerstone
Retirement Advisors, followed up with a second flash-poll: “What is the next
technological advancement you are implementing or considering for your
practice?”

Again there was a clear standout, with the majority focused
on financial wellness programs, as well as workflow and database management and
mobile enrollment.

Peter Kapinos, vice president and head of client engagement
for Empower Retirement, said he was a little surprised to see interest in new
desktop websites outstrip mobile applications, “but in a way this actually
makes sense.”

“What I mean is that even as we are building powerful desktop
websites, we have to think about mobile-first design,” Kapinos suggested. “If we
know the average individual is working off of their phone first, if we want
them to take action, obviously considering the smart phone first is key.”

Steven
Glasgow, senior vice president and financial adviser with Avondale
Partners, agreed with that sentiment. He noted that plan sponsors want very
in-depth and powerful websites that will bring customizable and flexible
planning tools down to the participant level.

“Advisers will know that even the best
websites will only see engagement from a segment of the population that truly
is already engaged in retirement planning and cares about their account,”
Glasgow said. “In that sense we often think of mobile technology as the gateway
to the deeper relationship.”

Both suggested a sensible technology
strategy, at a very high level, might be to have a simplified mobile application that will allow
participants to do a select number of things related to setting up an account for the first time, along with perhaps a few basic maintenance functions. As Glasgow explained, until a
participant is truly engaged, anything more than a few clicks or steps on the mobile
app is going to turn them away.

NEXT:
Technology support from partners

Glasgow went on to suggest that “our
increasing ability to draw data out of the recordkeeping websites and interfaces
is a game changer. We can go into meetings today and talk about what’s relevant
to the specific plan sponsor, drilling deep into clear demographic and
financial information about their actual participants. All that stuff we used
to have to guess at, we can now have the hard data very quickly.”

Kapinos echoed the thought, noting “what we can measure in our
digital world is truly impressive. While paper forms and enrollment kits serve
a purpose, the technological driven world makes things much more powerful and
efficient.”

Following another polling question from Sampson, about half of the advisers in
the audience indicated they are currently using iPads or other tablet
technology in their employee meetings.

“Since moving from paper quarterly meetings about a year
ago, every comment we have gotten from clients has been very positive,” Glasgow
said. “You get to control what they’re looking at and what they’re focused on
as you both lean in. And we kill less trees and use less ink. We have really
viewed it as a win-win.”

Looking ahead to the next few years of industry development,
both panelists said they hope to see more unification of industry technology.

“For example, we are working on a program that you could
call a robo-app, which we want to be able to lay on top of any recordkeeping
system,” Glasgow explained. “The goal is to eventually piggyback on the technology
and other apps that already exist in the space, to allow us to really
seamlessly leverage the data of other providers, and to share our own. I don’t know
if we’ll get there any time soon, to be frank, but that’s where we want to go.”

Kapinos agreed, concluding that “the digital experience will
not ever replace the true experience of sitting down with an adviser. Instead,
it will be the hub around which we can build and maintain the client relationship,
all the more efficiently and effectively.”